Sketchbook Painting | Paint a Series of Sweet Treats to Practice the Fundamentals of Acrylic Painting

In this class, we will create a series of “sweet treats” to practice our acrylic painting skills! Creating a series of studies in your sketchbook is a fabulous way to practice the fundamentals of acrylic painting in a short period of time. When you are trying to improve your painting skills, painting regularly is important, but it’s not always possible to complete a large painting on canvas everyday. That’s where sketchbook painting comes in handy. Each study in this class is designed to take no more than 20-30 minutes to complete.

When you’re painting in a sketchbook, think of it as practice. Feel free to play around with color and values. Try new compositions and different paint brushes. If your painting didn’t work, try to figure out what went wrong, turn the page and try again! I think you’ll find that small successes build confidence and the more you practice, the faster you will improve! Create a few studies a week or one a day and you will see your painting skills develop faster than if you were to toil away at one large painting over the course of a month.
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I have attached a pdf with reference photos but feel free to use your own. Some are from www.unsplash.com and others I took myself.

For your class project, paint one or more “sweet treat” studies and upload a photo by clicking on the "Projects & Resources" tab below the video. I can’t wait to see what you create!

My Supplies:
5.5” x 8.5” inch mixed media sketchbook
Flat and filbert paint brushes sizes 2-4
Water to clean brushes and thin out paint
Paper towels
Palette paper
Acrylic paint

Paint colors I used but don’t worry if you don’t have all of these. Please use whatever you have:
Quinacridone Red
Pyrrole Red
Cadmium Red Medium
Titanium White
Hansa Yellow Medium
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Yellow Ochre
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Turquoise Phthalo
Ultramarine Blue
Payne’s Gray

You can find all of my Skillshare classes here:
https://www.skillshare.com/user/ellebyers

You can also find me here:
www.ellebyers.com
www.instagram.com/ellebyersart
www.pinterest.com/ellebyersart

Melissa Engel

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